Wednesday, June 10, 2009

BE PATIENT SAYS FIH

Tournament Director Bjorn

With the second round fixtures and venues only to be determined at the end of the preliminary round matches this Friday, teams should wait before deciding to shift base from either Johor Bahru or Singapore.

That is the opinion of the Tournament Director Bjorn Isberg when asked about the intentions of some of the team to move to Johor Bahru after the preliminary rounds.

Some teams were said to be considering such a move in order to overcome traveling issues when crossing the causeway as it could take up to ninety minutes to travel from Singapore or Johor Bahru for the second round matches.

“The teams are free to move from Singapore to Malaysia and vice versa,” said Bjorn.

“There is no hard and fast rule here as to where they want to stay as the teams can decide what best suits them. Some of the teams raised concerns with regards to the regulatory clearances and we assured them that the matter would be looked into.

“Common sense will prevail when we draw up the fixtures for the second round so really teams should not have too much to worry about as we too want to provide the best solution.”

When asked if the movement of the teams will pose any problems with regards to contractual obligations between the co-host Malaysia and Singapore, Bjorn cleared the air.

“The teams are responsible towards their cost of board and lodging so we are not forcing anything on them,” said Bjorn.

“Both Malaysia and Singapore will have an equal number of matches and there is nothing contractually binding to say that equal number of teams must stay in Johor or Singapore.

“Wherever they decide to stay, it the responsibility of the organizers there, be it Johor or Singapore to provide them with the support such as Liaison Officers and transportation, and I have been given the assurances that the organizers are more then happy to accommodate the requests from the team.